Articles Posted in Sex Crimes

Police in Braintree, Massachusetts recently investigated reports from a minor child that Michael Cimmino of Braintree had engaged in inappropriate touching. The arrests took place on Saturday afternoon and Cimmino was arraigned in Quincy on Monday. Bail was set at fifty thousand dollars cash. It is further alleged that the incident occurred at Cimmino’s home. The victim is under the age of fourteen. The article in the Quincy Patriot Ledger provided very little detail about the incident, instead focusing on the charges themselves and the conditions of release that restrict Cimmino should he make bail. Cimmino has been charged with Assault With Intent to Commit Rape on a Person Under the Age of 14, Indecent Assault and Battery and Kidnapping. It is unclear as to whether or not the Norfolk County District Attorney will indict these cases or prosecute the charges in the district court.

Read Article:

http://www.patriotledger.com/news/cops_and_courts/x1458589871/Braintree-volunteer-accused-of-child-sex-abuse-suspended

Braintree, Massachusetts Assault With Intent to Rape Defense Lawyer

There is a fundamental legal principle that I have yet to blog on and deserves some attention today, the being the Presumption of Innocence. Every day we read articles like this one, void of any detail yet sensational enough to ruin an innocent person’s life. I am not assigning fault to anyone for this. It is the duty of the prosecution to protect the public and to prosecute people they believe might have committed crimes. It is the duty of the press to report the facts of the cases, a task that is usually done thoroughly in criminal cases. However, it is important to understand that all people accused of committing crimes in this country enjoy a presumption of innocence. Judges must ask prospective jurors if they will adhere to this principle of law. If they cannot then they are not to serve on the jury. The jury is reminded of this principle prior to retiring to their deliberations. Here, Cimmino has been charged with one of the most serious offenses we have. When reading this article people are bound to make judgments even in the absence of facts to support those thoughts. From the perspective of a Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer it is important to keep some thoughts in mind. Who was home at the time this supposedly happened. What did these people hear or see. What exactly did the child report and is it possible that under these circumstances Cimmino could have done this.

Continue Reading

This week, following a complaint from a Methuen, Massachusetts woman, Kenneth Poirier was arraigned in the Lawrence District Court on charges of Aggravated Rape and Kidnapping. He was previously charged with Indecent Assault and Battery, Assault and Battery and Kidnapping following another incident alleged to have occurred in October of this year. According to the complaining witness, on October 10, 2010 Poirier pulled her into his car and sexually attacked her at a remote location. As to the other case, it is alleged that on May 23, 2010 Poirier approached a woman pretending to need driving directions. When the woman approached to help out Poirier brandished a gun and demanded that the woman get in his car. He then drove off. He beat and raped her for about three hours. The woman escaped and was able to get the attention of patrolling police officers. She gave a description of Poirier who was arrested three days later. The woman refused medical treatment. These cases will probably be indicted to the Essex County Superior Court in Salem, Massachusetts.

Read Article:

http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1744209004/Second-Methuen-woman-accuses-man-of-attacks

While both of these cases might be defensible individually the prosecution might try to join both matters for trial. This will create an incredible difficult hurdle for the defense to jump. Massachusetts appellate courts have upheld the joinder of separate criminal accusations when two or more offenses are related, meaning that they are based on the same criminal conduct, course of criminal conduct or series of criminal episodes. It is up to the trial judge whether or not to permit joinder. Prior to permitting joinder the judge must decide whether joining the cases would deny the defendant of a fair trial. I can see some judges joining these cases and others requiring the district attorney to prosecute them separately. Most Aggressive Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyers will fight to sever these cases. The potential prejudice joinder presents is significant.

Continue Reading

Victor Hugo Gomez and Carolina Magana, both of East Boston, Massachusetts were arrested and charged with Sex Crimes in Lynn, Massachusetts. The Lynn Item reports that in September Lynn police detectives were made aware of a Prostitution ring in that city. They learned that prostitutes of Colombian decent were being delivered to clients in a specified minivan. Undercover officers called a number given to them by an informant and requested that a prostitute be delivered to them at a specific address. Within minutes a minivan fitting the informant’s description arrived. It was being driven by Gomez. Magana was in the back seat. Police identified themselves and Magana told the police that she and Gomez worked together and split the profits. A search of the minivan resulted in the seizure of a bag of condoms, some lubricant and cash. It was also determined that Gomez was an Unlicensed Driver. Gomez has been charged with a Motor Vehicle Crime and Derving Support from a Prostitute. Magana has been charged with Sex For a Fee. The case is being prosecuted in the Lynn District Court.

Read Article:

Massachusetts Sex For a Fee Defense Lawyer

prostitution03.jpg

Massachusetts Prostitution Defense Law Firm
Deriving Support from a Prostitute is a felony under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 272 Section 7. The law states that anyone convicted of this crime is subject to a five year prison sentence. Here, it is unlikely that Magana will testify against Gomez. Thus, the prosecution will have great difficulty securing a conviction. Massachusetts law states that driving a prostitute to particular location and either returning to pick her up or waiting for her does not amount to Pimping in Massachusetts. Absent some additional evidence the case against Gomez, if properly defended should be dismissed.

Continue Reading

Seventeen year old Nigel Rowe of Westborough, Massachusetts has been charged with Rape. According to reports in the Metrowest Daily News and Wicked Local, Westborough, Rowe was arraigned today in the Westborough District Court. Bail was set at one thousand dollars. Rowe is permitted to remain attend school but is otherwise confined to his home. He is being monitored by a GPS device pending his pre-trial. Rowe was arrested Friday night by local police. It is reported that Rowe and the girl know each other.

Read Article:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/westborough/newsnow/x1389367986/Westborough-high-football-player-pleads-not-guilty-to-rape-charges

westborough district court.jpg

Westborough, Massachusetts Rape Defense Lawyer

Stories like this one always concern me. The accused is being charged with one of the most heinous acts, punishable be life in prison. Yet his bail is set at one thousand dollars and he can attend school. That suggests to me that the underlying facts are much less egregious than the charges suggest. Apparently the girl made her complaint last Thursday. The police conducted a one day investigation before making their arrest. As I have mentioned in prior blog posts, there are many defenses to Rape allegations. In cases where the act never occurred denial is a common defense. Where there was sexual contact but no rape then consent is typically offered as a defense. Many factors are taken into account by judges or juries in determining guilty or innocence in these cases. Where did the act occur? At what time? What condition was the complaining witness in at the time of the report? What did witnesses see or hear? What did the complaining witness tell her friends or family, if anything. What did the defendant say before or after his arrest. Rowe’s Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer will be looking into all of these issues immediately as he or she establishes the defense to this case. However, while this case is pending it is important to keep in mind that these charges are allegations only and Rowe enjoys a constitutional presumption of innocence.

Continue Reading

Alden Dow of Methuen, Massachusetts has been charged with Indecent Exposure and Disorderly Conduct. The Lawrence Eagle Tribune reports that Dow was urinating on the tire and bumper of a truck outside of a Methuen restaurant. The car owner, a woman, contacted police who responded to find Dow in an intoxicated state. Dow denied committing the act. Dow’s keys were found in his car. A criminal background check showed that his license had been suspended. Charges were filed. The case in pending in the Lawrence District Court.

Read Article:

http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x583214285/Man-charged-with-indecent-exposure
urinating in public.jpg

Indecent Exposure Defense Lawyers in Massachusetts

From the perspective of a Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Dow did not commit the crime of Indecent Exposure. To convict the accused of the offense of Indecent Exposure in Massachusetts the district attorney must prove the Dow engaged in “an intentional act of lewd exposure, offensive to one or more persons”. Lewd conduct has been defined as “the commission of conduct in a public place, or the public solicitation of conduct to be performed in a public place, when the conduct committed or solicited involves the touching of the genitals, buttocks, or female breasts, for purposes of sexual arousal, gratification, or offense, by a person who knows or should know of the presence of a person or persons who may be offended by the conduct.” The act of urinating on someone’s truck tires does not satisfy this statute.

Continue Reading

Abdul Kareem Balogun of Revere, Massachusetts has been charged with Rape and Indecent Assault and Battery on a Retarded Person in Suffolk County. It has been reported that Balogun was a care taker for adults with mental health issues. He worked for a local medical assistance organization. One of the patients complained to a case worker about sexual assaults including demands for oral sex. The caseworker contacted the police. Their investigation disclosed that the victim had suffered abuse over ten times since Balogun began working for the organization in April of this year. The case is currently pending in the Chelsea District Court. The prosecution of this case will likely be handled in the Suffolk County Superior Court.

Read Article:

Rape Charges For Massachusetts Man Working At Health Care Facility Filed

Chelsea District Court.jpg

Indecent Assault and Battery on a Mentally Retarded Person, Massachusetts

To be convicted of Indecent Assault and Battery on a Mentaly Retarded Person in Massachusetts the prosecution must prove that the defendant 1) committed an indecent assault and battery, 2) on a person with an intellectual disability and 3) that the defendant knew that the individual had the disability. If convicted of this crime there is a potential ten year state prison sentence and a five year sentence must be imposed. The five year sentence is not a minimum mandatory sentence so there can be some creativity with a plea bargain or through judicial discretion. Massachusetts courts have held that the prosecution succeeded in proving a victim’ s intellectual disability by through evidence that the person lived in a home for mentally retarded people, thus eliminating the need for expert testimony on that subject.

Continue Reading

About a month ago David Avery, a former Danvers, Massachusetts resident now living in Tewksbury received an errant text from a fourteen girl. Avery, who is thirty one years old and the girl texted each other for several weeks. The two eventually agreed to meet behind a store in Salem, Massachusetts. They engaged in various sex acts. Afterwards they went into the store to get a drink. Concerned about getting pregnant, the girl confided to a friend about the incident. She then told her mother who in turn took her to the Salem, Massachusetts police station. A surveillance video at the store partially corroborated the girl’s story. Avery has now been charged with two counts of Statutory Rape in the Salem, Massachusetts District Court. This case will most likely be prosecuted in the Essex County Superior Court.

Read Article:

http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x677780042/Police-Mistaken-text-message-leads-to-rape-of-14-year-old

fingerprinted.jpg

Massachusetts Statutory Rape Defense Attorney

Statutory Rape in Massachusetts is a felony pursuant to M.G.L. ch. 265 s 23. It makes no difference that the defendant did not know the victim’s age at the time of the act. The prosecution has to prove only two elements to sustain a conviction for Statutory Rape in Massachusetts. 1) That the defendant had sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse, with 2) a child under sixteen years of age. Moreover, it has long been the law in Massachusetts that it is no defense that the defendant did not know that the victim was under the statutory age of consent. It is also immaterial that the defendant reasonably believed that the victim was sixteen years of age or older or that he may have attempted to ascertain her age. Thus, the only defense to this case is that the acts for which the accused stands charged never occurred.

Continue Reading

Last week Newton residents Steven Elliott and Kristin Kimball pleaded not guilty at their arraignment. Both stand charged with Rape of a Child, Posing a Child in the Nude and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. Elliot is also charged of Aggravated Rape of a Child and Possession of Child Pornography. The incident is alleged to have occurred in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Elliott was released on five thousand dollars bail. Kimball was released on her own recognizance. The case is being prosecuted in the Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn. No further details were given in the article referenced below nor does the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office reference this case in its press releases.

Read Article:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/news/x1380095779/Newton-residents-charged-in-Marlborough-child-rape

Posing a Child in the Nude, Massachusetts

The crime of Posing a Child in the Nude is proscribed by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 272 Section 29A. There are several subsections of that law. The law itself is designed to punish anyone who is involved in exhibiting someone under the age of eighteen in a state of nudity, “for the purpose of representation or reproduction in any visual material”. The statue has a ten year minimum sentence and a maximum of twenty years. Consent is not a defense to these charges. Whereas the defendants also face charges of Rape of a Child, a child being under the age of sixteen, it is clear that the victim in this case must be younger than sixteen.

Continue Reading

Eric Churchill is sixty one years old. This past weekend a neighbor told the police that around noon Churchill appeared in her backyard, drank some beers pulled down his shorts and exposed himself. The complainant told him that she did not approve of this conduct. She claimed to be shocked. The woman reported the incident about six hours later. The woman told the police that another man, a neighbor witnessed the incident. She further told the police that this man would deny the incident had occurred. The police confronted Churchill. He denied behaving as reported. The police also spoke with the witness. He too stated that this never happened. Churchill will be charged with Open and Gross Lewdness. The case will be prosecuted in the Salem District Court.

Read Article:

http://www.salemnews.com/local/x994340091/Man-61-is-charged-with-exposing-self

salem.jpg

Essex County Sex Crimes Defense Lawyer

The crime of Open and Gross Lewdness in Massachusetts is a felony proscribed by Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 272 Section 16. This law was enacted in 1784. To convict someone of this crime the district attorney must prove that the accused exposed his genitalia or buttocks to someone, that this was done intentionally, that this was done publicly or with a reckless disregard that there would be some public exposure to some who might be offended by the conduct, that the act was designed to cause alarm or shock and that shock or alarm resulted. While the complainant in this case used the proper buzz words jurors might be reluctant to believe her story. She did not report the incident for six hours. When making the complaint she inexplicably told the police that the eyewitness would refute the allegations as he in fact did. This suggests that the incident did not occur and that perhaps the complainant had a motive for making a false complaint. It seems like Churchill’s defense lawyer has a lot to work with in this case.

Continue Reading

This past Sunday Angel Ruiz of Lawrence, Massachusetts was arrested in the early morning hours. Authorities allege that Ruiz Raped and beat a woman with whom he had a relationship. Neighbors heard the woman screaming. Officers responding to the scene were informed that cut the woman and left the house. The woman was airlifted to a Boston hospital for treatment. The woman’s children were home at the time of the attack. Ruiz has been charged with Violation of a Restraining Order, Aggravated Rape, Assault and Battery, Larceny and Intimidation of a Witness. The case will be prosecuted in the Essex County Superior Court in Salem. The victim was released from the hospital.

Read Article:

http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1388784548/Man-charged-in-violent-rape

Massachusetts Rape Defense Lawyers

ruiz.jpg

Ruiz is facing a big fight. These charges are severe. The Rape charge carries a maximum sentence of life pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265 Section 22(a). This is the more severe Rape Charge, commonly referred to as Aggravated Rape. The district attorney will have to prove not only non-consensual sex but also that the act resulted in serious bodily injury. That aspect of the law might appear satisfied by the fact that the victim was cut and that her injuries necessitated hospitalization. If the prosecutor cannot meet its burden as to the aggravated portion of the offense then there is a maximum twenty year sentence for a conviction of this crime. Either way, if this article is factually accurate Ruiz is facing a lengthy state prison sentence if his is convicted. As with any serious case in this jurisdiction, Ruiz needs to Hire an Experienced Massachusetts Rape Defense Lawyer.

Continue Reading